Theile: Henry 5 Study Questions for Henry V 1. The long, complicated speech of the Archbishop of Canterbury (1.2) defending Harry’s right to claim the French crown “with right and conscience” is difficult to stage successfully before modern audiences. Laurence Olivier’s film version played it for broad, farcical comedy, and the 1989 film version exaggerated the play’s suggestion of devious and financial motives on the part of the churchmen to such an extent that the bishop and the archbishop become positively sinister characters. What motives, motifs and themes would you emphasize if you were producing this scene? Refer closely to specific lines in the play in your answer and explain why you would make certain specific decisions. 2. It seem that nobody in the French court has any trouble speaking English except Princess Katherine—though it is, of course, inherently absurd that everyone at court, except the royal princess could speak English without interpreters. Study the scenes in which Katherine appears: 3.4 and 5.2. In the first scene we see the Princess attempting to study English with her lady-in-waiting (and being shocked by the bawdy meaning that certain English words have in French).

In the second scene in which Katherine appears—when King Henry proposes marriage to her—she apparently still has considerable difficulty with the language, though apparently no one else at court does. Why do you suppose Shakespeare completely ignores language difference except in her case, where he deliberately draws a great deal of attention to it? 3. In today’s lecture, I briefly recounted the history of the proto-Protestant movement, the Lollard uprising, which took place during the reign of Henry V and which culminated in the execution of Sir John Oldcastle, the Lollard leader. It is often claimed that Shakespeare omitted all these internal problems of Henry’s reign and that he had good reason to do so. But, in fact, Shakespeare’s play originally included a deliberate reminder of this episode: his character Falstaff was originally named Sir John Oldcastle, and the name was only changed later, when descendants of the historical Sir John objected. The historical and the fictional character are obviously very different—almost complete opposites—yet it could be argued that thematic echoes of the whole historical episode, and its implications about the relationships between a ruler and his friends, recur throughout Shakespeare’s play. Can you point out some of these thematic echoes of the historical episode?

(If this question does not ring any bells, never mind; just skip it.) 4. The disguised ruler, meeting his subjects incognito, is a common theme in folklore, and one that Shakespeare uses in both Henry V and Measure for Measure. In the history play, the disguised ruler, King Henry, is also the commander about to lead his soldiers into a very dubious battle. According to the Chorus, the night-wandering King cheers and comforts his troops, providing “a little touch of Harry in the night.” Yet the scene that follows Chorus’ speech (4.1) provides a rather different picture. The disguised King hears some things he is not intended to hear, attempts to respond, becomes embroiled in a quarrel, and is challenged to a duel. The scene concludes with Henry, all alone once more, searching his heart in a rare soliloquy, and then praying. Write a detailed analysis of the whole scene, spelling out as fully as possible what you think Shakespeare is attempting to accomplish at each point in the action. Notice the various changes in mood, partly accomplished by the switches between verse and prose throughout the scene. 5. What is the function of the Chorus?

Why would such a figure appear in Henry V but not in Midsummer Night’s Dream or As You Like It? What does Chorus do in Henry V that makes this figure invaluable to the play as a whole? 6. Note the characterization of King Henry. If you are familiar with the Henry IV plays, you may be surprised at the change in the fun-loving prince Hal, who hung out with "low-life" characters (with Falstaff, Pistol, Mistress Quickly, etc.) and seemed unlikely to develop into a responsible ruler. Look for references to the king's past in the text of Henry V (see, for example, Canterbury and Ely in 1.1.; Henry’s interactions with Falstaff here; and the French Dauphin's opinion of him). While Henry's past may seem to be in stark contrast to his present role as King, is such a wild youth necessarily an impediment to effectiveness as a ruler? What advantages does Henry gain from his close association with the common people? How does it help him later, for example, in his interactions with his soldiers? Look in particular at the “a little touch of Harry”- scene mentioned earlier. 7.

Consider the political dimensions of the play, which not only spans a war and a peace treaty between England and France, but also alludes to a number of domestic political conflicts (the conflict between the Church and the Parliament, which wants to pass a bill confiscating much of the Church's wealth, alluded to in 1.1; the treachery of Scroop, Grey and Cambridge; the bickering between the officers Gower, Fluellen, MacMorris and Jamy (who, by the way, represent the four lands united under Henry’s crown: England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, respectively). In your opinion, to what extent is Henry a politician? Is he a Machiavellian ruler or an idealist? (How would you define a Machiavellian ruler?) To get you started: do you think that Henry would truly renounce his claims to France if Ely and Cambridge were to tell him they were not well founded, or is he simply asking them to give him an excuse to pursue those claims? Can they be trusted to tell him the truth, or are they just saying what he wants in exchange for his support in the conflict with Parliament? 8.

Consider the conflict between the public and the private in Henry V. In becoming king, did Henry lose all affection for the companions of his youth? Or does he simply feel that, as king, he must sacrifice private inclinations to public duty? Consider in this regard his rejection of Falstaff (which according to Mistress Quickly causes the death of the old knight); his statements to and treatment of the traitors; the hanging of Bardolph; his interactions with Bates, Court and Williams the night before the battle of Agincourt; his "Ceremony" soliloquy; his famous speech to the troops before the battle of Agincourt; and his wooing of Catherine. (She is his as part of the peace settlement. Why woo her?) 9. Note the symbolism and themes that connect Henry V to Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It, e.g. a movement from conflict to harmony (war to peace); the devastating effects of that conflict on nature, sterile as a result of the war (see Burgundy's speech in 5.2.23-67); and on marriage (and the implication of fertility) which resolves the conflict and symbolizes harmony and the promise of fertility.

Consider also the role of language, a persuasive force which, as in As You Like It, is not necessarily to be trusted. Henry is clearly a master of rhetoric (see his inspirational speeches to the troops, for example). Can we take him seriously when he tells Katherine that he has no eloquence and speaks to her as would a "plain soldier"? Is she right to think "the tongues of men are full of deceits" (5.2.120)? To what extent is this play about the disjunction between appearance and reality and the related theme of deception? 10. What is the purpose of the scenes dealing with the common people (Bardolph, Nym, Pistol, Mistress Quickly, and the Boy; Bates, Court and Williams; the captains Gower, Fluellen, MacMorris and Jamy)? What purposes do they serve? How do the scenes with the common people serve to underscore the more serious themes explored in the play? Can they be considered foils to other characters in the work? Does the scene of the French lesson between Katherine and Alice serve a similar purpose? 11. Compare/contrast the French rulers and court with the English ones. How would you characterize each?

What does this characterization imply about the relative claims of Henry and the Dauphin to the throne of France? Why might Henry want to avoid unnecessarily humiliating or mistreating the French? (consider 3.3.54; 3.4.112-119; 5.2.174-182). Who among the French appear laughable? Why or why not? Why is Katherine intent on learning English? 12. Be sure to have the details of the Battle of Agincourt straight. How many French and English forces are there? What is the relative condition of the English and French armies? What are the odds? What two obstacles must Henry overcome, as dramatized in 4.1 and 4.3, and how (by what methods or talents) does he do so? Henry V Henry V Henry IV died 20 March 1413. His son, Henry V (aged 26) succeeded peacefully to the throne. Henry V was a muscular man, stately in his bearing; he loved hunting. Unlike Richard II, Henry V was very much at home with the military aristocracy that dominated England.

He had made many friends amongst them while campaigning in Wales, and his first thought on accession to the throne was military action against France. Neither England nor France had strictly observed the twenty-six year truce of 1396 - in particular, the French attacked English territories in Gascony while Henry IV struggled to suppress the Percy rebellion. Charles VI Charles VI of France (1380-1422) acceded to the throne when he was only twelve years old. His irresponsible uncles - the Dukes of Anjou, Berry and Burgundy - squandered the country's wealth and imposed high taxes that provoked the peasantry to intermittent revolt. Charles himself took control in 1388, but in 1392 suffered from one of the first of many recurrent bouts of madness. (He was under the impression that he was made of glass, and would break at the slightest shock.) Charles was insane more often than sane in the years that followed, and his uncles and his wife - Isabel of Bavaria - struggled to dominate policy. The struggles amongst the French nobility erupted into civil war in 1410, and there was rioting between rival factions in Paris.

Henry V decided to take advantage of French divisions. In 1414, he negotiated with the Duke of Burgundy (who was keen to take advantage of the weakness of the French crown,) agreed a truce with Brittany, and spent the summer making military preparations. The French were well aware of English plans. An almost contemporary account tells how they sent Henry V tennis balls to play with, as a sign of their contempt. "We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us; His present and your pains we thank you for: When we have matched our rackets to these balls, We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard." (Shakespeare, Henry V, 1.2) Henry V and Agincourt Henry reasserted the English claim to the the French Crown (ignoring the fact that the Earl of March was more entitled than himself,) and in August 1415 set sail for France with his army aboard about 1500 vessels. Henry besieged the fortress town of Harfleur which commanded the mouth of the Seine. He positioned his ships to prevent the town being reinforced or provisioned by sea.

Henry's army was well equipped and supplied, and the French were unable to send a force to relieve Harfleur. Disease broke out killing many of the town's inhabitants (and some of its besiegers, including Thomas Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel - a friend of Henry from the Welsh wars.) Harfleur surrendered 22 September 1415. Against the advice of many of his commanders to return home before winter, Henry V decided to march with his army to Calais. The French amassed a large army, and after Henry's men had marched 250 miles in seventeen days, intercepted the English at Agincourt. Henry's army was hungry, tired, and many of its soldiers were suffering from dysentery. Had the French simply denuded the country of supplies and picked off stragglers, the march would have achieved nothing and lost many men. Instead the French decided to attack. Henry commanded about 6,000 troops - 5,000 infantry and archers, and 1,000 cavalry. The number of French troops is uncertain, but probably at least three times as many.

The Battle of Agincourt 25 October 1415 Henry took up a strong defensive position over a narrow front, with woodland on each flank and archers positioned behind wooden stakes driven into the ground to impede French cavalry attack. Henry - ostentatiously crowned and surrounded by banners - placed himself in a prominent position at the center of the line, possibly hoping to tempt the French knights into the center of his flanking archers. Even now the French could simply have held their ground and forced Henry's troops either to withdraw under difficult conditions or starve where they stood. Overconfident and without respect for the socially-inferior archers who made up the bulk of the English force, the French arrayed themselves in three "battles" with the highest ranking nobles at the fore. The French cavalry charged first, but the weather was wet and the horses could only advance sluggishly across the mud: they made easy targets for the English archers. French dismounted cavalry followed in a second wave, but they were encumbered by their heavy armor and unable to bring their superior numbers to bear effectively because of the narrowness of the front.

The slow-moving French attackers were picked off by the English archers who, when they ran out of arrows, attacked them with stakes, knives and axes. Numbers are uncertain, but the French probably lost about 7,000 men to the English 500. Jean, 1st Duke of Alenï¿½on was killed, and Charles, Duke of Orleans was captured (he was not ransomed until 1440). Henry V and Normandy During 1417 and 1418, Henry systematically conquered Normandy, reducing one town after another. In January 1419, its principal city, Rouen surrendered. With Normandy subdued and the French army afraid to meet him in the field, English power in France reached its greatest extent . Philip, Duke of Burgundy (who succeeded when the Dauphin's followers murdered his father during peace negotiations in 1419) and Queen Isabel agreed with Henry V in the Treaty of Troyes (May 1420) to the marriage of Henry V to Catherine Valois (daughter of Charles and Isabel) and to his succession to the throne of France on the death of Charles VI.

Hardly surprisingly, Charles the Dauphin did not agree to being disinherited. He established a rival government at Bourges. During the fighting that followed, Henry V died of dysentery (31 August 1422.) Henry's brother, John Duke of Bedford proclaimed the infant Henry VI King of France. North of the Loire, the English ruled; to the south the Dauphin's government was recognized. Charles VII Henry's premature death makes it difficult to judge the wisdom of his foreign policy. By the time of his death he did hold a great deal of land in northern and south-western France, and was cooperating well with Burgundy in reducing the Dauphin's sovereign territory further. Henry was a truly able soldier, with logistic and strategic as well as tactical talents. On the other hand, the French were uniting in the face of the English threat. England never had the resources needed to control France without its population's cooperation - and there is little evidence that the French in the conquered areas ever became reconciled to English rule. Certainly, Henry V was esteemed by his contemporaries who wrote admiring biographies about his daring conquests.

The "salut d'or" struck by Henry V to announce the impending birth of his child - heir to both France and England. One side shows the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary above the coats of arms of France and England. The other shows the French fleur de lis and the English leopard. Henry V in England While fighting in France, Henry secured the English home front by a policy of moderation - indeed generosity - to the nobility. He restored the lands and titles of families such as the Percies who had rebelled under Henry IV. The prospect of gains in France from lands, ransoms and loot was also very appealing to the military aristocracy. An example of Henry V's handwriting Henry V also had largely cordial relations with his parliaments, which were summoned eleven times during his short reign. Initially, they willingly granted him taxes. These included the customs duties of "tonnage and poundage" - a levy on wool, wine, hides, and other commodities - given to cover maritime defense. After Agincourt, they granted Henry these customs duties for life.

From 1420, Parliament grew more reluctant to vote the king money as the Treaty of Troyes suggested that the King's new French provinces should finance the costs of war and pacification. Henry also financed his activities by regularly asking wealthy and important subjects for tax-free loans. At first these were readily forthcoming - like today's party political contributions, they ensured access to power and policy-making. Later in Henry's reign, the supply began to dry up and signs of resentment began to appear. However, Henry died before discontent reached serious proportions. The Cambridge plot There was some opposition to Henry V in England. In 1415, Richard Earl of Cambridge, Henry Lord Scrope of Masham, and Sir Thomas Grey of Heton hatched a plot to kill Henry. The motives of the conspirators are not entirely clear. They may have intended to place Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, on the throne - though Mortimer himself revealed the plot to Henry. It does seem clear that Richard, Earl of Cambridge was the chief conspirator. This was probably for reasons of personal ambition.

Richard himself was the heir apparent of the House of York (should his brother, Edward die without children,) and Richard's son by his wife Anne Mortimer was Edmund Mortimer's heir (this son was Richard Duke of York.) All three were promptly executed, and their lands seized. Oldcastle's rebellion A 16th Century engraving of Oldcastle's execution: He was hanged in chains and a fire lit beneath him. Sir John Oldcastle was a soldier who had fought with Henry V in Wales. He was also a public figure in Herefordshire - he was a Member of the 1404 parliament, sheriff for the county, and acquired by marriage the title of Lord Cobham. In 1413 he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for heretical religious beliefs, but escaped in October and began plotting with others to seize or kill Henry V and his brothers. He sent out a call for supporters to start a general revolt beginning by assembling in Saint Giles's Fields, London. A few hundred, possibly a thousand rebels responded. The revolt was easily suppressed and about forty of the rebels were executed in January 1414. Oldcastle fled and hid until 1417, when he was captured and executed.

Oldcastle firmly held Lollard beliefs, but many of those involved in the revolt seem to have been merely reckless opportunists. Agincourt600 – Commemorating 600 years since the Battle of Agincourt » ‘For I am Welsh you know’ – Welshmen, Myth and Reality at Agincourt ‘For I am Welsh you know’ – Welshmen, Myth and Reality at Agincourt By Dr Adam Chapman “Your majesty says very true: if your majestie is remembered of it, the Welshmen did good service in a garden where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps; which, your majesty knows, to this hour is an honourable badge of the service; and I do believe your majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Davy’s day.” Fluellen, Henry V, Act IV, Scene 7 One of the great popular images of the battle of Agincourt is that the majority of the ‘English’ archers present were Welshmen – doubtless with leeks in their Monmouth caps – and that this great victory could be seen as much a Welsh victory as an English one.

It must be said that Shakespeare has a hand in this and that the memorable, florid and hot-tempered ‘Fluellen’ found in Shakespeare’s play of Henry V goes some way to putting the Welsh at the forefront of our imagining of the battle. The playwright goes further, of course, reminding the audience of Henry’s birth in Wales and having the king wear a leek on St David’s day and to go so far as to say ‘for I am Welsh you know’. Both Fluellen and Henry’s self-conscious Welshness owe more to the context in which the play was written and first performed – in 1598-9 in the last years of the reign of Elizabeth I (d. 1603). Such comic Welshmen were a feature of the Tudor stage and Elizabeth herself made some play of her Welsh ancestry; including wearing a leek on St David’s Day. Shakespeare’s historical drama was written for his own times and Fluellen, in fact, was explicitly referring to the service of the Welsh in the time of Edward, the Black Prince, possibly at the battle of Poitiers (1356).

The popular line that Agincourt was a ‘Welsh’ ultimately derives from Shakespeare, but it is pervasive. I was interviewed on BBC Radio Wales about this once and, having carefully explained the above was ‘reminded’ that “one Welshman was worth ten Englishmen”. The facts, so far as they are known, do not necessarily sustain this confidence. However, the troops from Wales are well-documented and tell an interesting story about Wales in the early fifteenth century. Wales in 1415 First, Wales, as we think of it today was not how it appeared in the fifteenth century. It consisted of five counties in the north and west of Wales – Carmarthenshire, Cardiganshire, Merioneth, Anglesey and Caernarfonshire – which were under the control of the crown or, when there was one, the eldest son of the king: the Prince of Wales. Flintshire was also a royal county, but formed part of the earldom of Chester. The remainder was divided into around forty independent lordships which, following their conquest by Norman lords in the twelfth century, had become the private property of members of the English nobility, the Welsh March.

Henry V, as grandson of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, had several Marcher lordships in southern Wales, notably Brecon, Kidwelly (or Cydweli), Monmouth and Hay. The lands of the principality were under the king’s control in 1415 so Henry V had greater control over the lands of Wales than any previous medieval ruler and, through his years spent combating Owain Glyndŵr’s rebellion, greater personal familiarity with them than any English monarch since Edward II. It was natural that he would wish to recruit soldiers from these estates but the loyalty of the Welsh could not be trusted, still less taken for granted. Owain himself was still at liberty and governmental control of the north or Wales was nothing like complete and the Lollard rebellion led by Sir John Oldcastle, a Herefordshire man, had caused fresh fears of rebellion on the part of Henry and his council in 1415. Against this background it is surprising that any troops were recruited from Wales at all. The Soldiers We know quite a lot about the archers and men-at-arms recruited from Wales in 1415.

We have documents recording all their names, including the names of those who, for whatever reason, could not serve in person. In these cases, we have the names of the substitutes they provided included in muster rolls made at Carmarthen and Brecon on 26 June 1415. These rolls were made under the supervision of the chamberlain of South Wales – the counties of Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire – John Merbury, who also served as steward of the king’s lordship of Brecon. A mix of troops recruited from southern Wales in 1415. From Brecon and other Lancaster lordships there were 10 men-at-arms, 14 mounted archers and 146 foot archers. From the royal shires of South Wales and their dependent lordships came a further ten men-at-arms and three mounted archers with 323 foot archers. We know that they were mustered in Carmarthen – administrative centre of the southern part of the principality of Wales – and at Brecon, centre of the duchy of Lancaster estates in Wales on 26 June.

513 troops were assembled there though it is probable that as many as forty were seconded to defend south Wales and thus never left Carmarthen. Two of their leaders were listed among the archers recruited from Carmarthenshire so it seems likely that the men under their command came from the same source – they were paid for 45 and a half days from the revenues of John Merbury, the chamberlain of South Wales. All these troops probably took the same road from Carmarthen, across south Wales to Brecon and thence to Hereford and south to Southampton. They certainly passed through Warminster, Wiltshire, since the townspeople complained that Welsh (and English) soldiers had taken food without payment. A further nine men, three men-at-arms, three mounted archers and three archers on foot were recruited from the small lordship of Kidwelly to the west of Swansea. The roll documents from which part of which lordship or from which Commote (a medieval Welsh land unit, very roughly the equivalent of a Hundred in an English county) each man came from.

In the royal counties, it is likely that each man was subject to a personal summons or that the community was liable to produce a set number of men and selected these themselves, since some men saw fit, for whatever reason, to provide substitutes. Some, we know, were former rebels and it is probable that many more had also joined Owain Glyndŵr in rebellion. They clearly had something very specific – legal pardon or the return of the their lands – to gain. Service in France If only 460 Welsh soldiers left Wales, their numbers were thinned yet further by disease at Harfleur. The precise extent of this is not known, like much else following the fall of Harfleur and the lead-up to the battle but it is probable that only around 400 of the 513 initially recruited actually fought at the battle in an army of around 8000. Some of these were former rebels others had been consistently loyal to the English crown.

None are known to have died at Agincourt, though Dafydd or Davy Gam, who by merit of his long service to the House of Lancaster indented to serve with the king directly as a man-at-arms with three archers, did and he is the only Welshman to be noted by name in any on the contemporary accounts of the battle and, moreover, in Shakespeare’s play. Legacy The Welsh archers at Agincourt make a good story in myth, but their importance in reality should not be overplayed. Perhaps only 400 Welsh archers were present at the battle but, in the context of a ten year rebellion which had ravaged Wales and the distrust with which Welshmen continued to be regarded throughout the fifteenth century – they were, theoretically at least, forbidden to hold land or public offices in England for example – it is a wonder that any soldiers were recruited from there at all. Henry V’s decision was in part pragmatic; he needed the men, but the evidence suggests that these Welshmen were chosen carefully. Many of them, prominent rebels like Gruffudd Dwnn, were in need of the king’s good will.

Understandably, there was ambivalence at the heart of the Welsh attitude to the wars in France. Dwnn is an interesting case; he later served with distinction in France and was made constable of Kidwelly Castle which he had helped besiege as a rebel. There is an enormous amount of Welsh language poetic, often chivalric, literature celebrating and praising the warlike qualities of the Welsh gentry in the fifteenth century, such as that of Guto’r Glyn who was himself a soldier, but nowhere in the literature that survives is Agincourt mentioned and nowhere in the literature remembering the battle of Agincourt in the fifteenth century – English, Welsh or French – are Welsh archers mentioned at all.

If you want to know more, the full article this blog is based on was published in the Journal of Medieval Military History Volume IX: Soldiers, Weapons and Armies in the Fifteenth Century edited by Anne Curry and Adrian Bell Adam Chapman’s book, Welsh Soldiers in the Later Middle Ages, 1282-1422, has been published by Boydell & Brewer Photograph of Kidwelly Castle taken from Wikipedia, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, author Iphrit BBC - History - Henry V z Henry V © Henry V was one of the great warrior kings of medieval England, famous for his victory against the French at the Battle of Agincourt. Henry was born in 1386 or 1387, the son of the future Henry IV. He was created prince of Wales at his father's coronation in 1399. He showed his military abilities as a teenager, taking part in the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. He then spent the next five years fighting against Owen Glendower's rebellion in Wales. He was also keen to have a role in government, leading to disagreements with his father.

Henry became king in 1413. In 1415, he successfully crushed a conspiracy to put Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, on the throne. Shortly afterwards he sailed for France, which was to be the focus of his attentions for the rest of his reign. Henry was determined to regain the lands in France held by his ancestors and laid claim to the French throne. He captured the port of Harfleur and on 25 October 1415 defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt. Between 1417 and 1419 Henry followed up this success with the conquest of Normandy. Rouen surrendered in January 1419 and his successes forced the French to agree to the Treaty of Troyes in May 1420. Henry was recognised as heir to the French throne and married Catherine, the daughter of the French king. In February 1421, Henry returned to England for the first time in three and half years, and he and Catherine went on a royal progress round the country. In June, he returned to France and died suddenly, probably of dysentery, on 31 August 1422.

His nine-month-old son succeeded him. God Save the King and Keep the Crown! MIDDLE ENGLISH COMPLAINT LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION God Save the King and Keep the Crown! After the Rising of 1381, fear of rebellion by the commons against the ruling class lingered, as seen in Truth, Rest and Peace, which counsels just rule to prevent a recurrence. But rebellion also occurred within the ruling class, aimed at disposal of the monarch, particularly after Henry Bolingbroke usurped the throne. When Henry IV became king, he stripped a number of peers of titles they had been granted by Richard II and demoted them from duke to earl. In early January 1400, three months after Henry's accession, several joined together in a plot to assassinate the king, known as the Epiphany Rising. But Henry was forewarned and raised an army in London, at which the conspirators fled. They were apprehended and executed without trial. During the last year of Henry IV’s reign, supporters of Richard II devised a plan to dethrone the usurper and restore Richard, the rightful ruler.

Rumors were spread that Richard was alive and returning, and an imposter was found. The plot was discovered soon after Henry V’s coronation, and though quashed it was obviously a threat to the monarch. The only conspirator prosecuted was the leader, John Wightlock, groom and yeoman to Richard II, who was imprisoned but escaped. Henry V was the subject of another plot soon after his ascension. In 1413 his boyhood friend, the knight Sir John Oldcastle, 1 was convicted as a heretic for holding certain Lollard beliefs, which he would not recant. The king was lenient out of friendship and granted a respite of forty days, during which Oldcastle escaped from the Tower of London and formed a conspiracy to capture Henry and his brothers. The king was alerted, and the force of Lollards that had gathered for the event, now known as Oldcastle’s Rebellion or the Lollard Rising, was dispersed and Oldcastle escaped. After several years of hiding and plotting, Oldcastle was captured and executed in 1417. God Save the King and Keep the Crown! shares advice on ruling with the “mirror for princes” and similar literature.

2 Beyond that commonality, there are several elements that make the poem of interest. Its topicality, though often obscure to the modern reader, refers to contemporary events outlined above as well as others, which have been footnoted in the translation. Most of the events involve internal conflict and dissension, which the poet perceives as a threat to the life of king and kingdom and prompts his repeated emphasis on political and social unity. And indeed, Henry V opened his rule on a conciliatory, unifying platform. The positive attitude towards military action is somewhat contrary to the complaints in some other works about England’s wars with France and Scotland and the cost of those conflicts. The poem is dated to 1413, and thus probably preceded Henry’s receipt of a funding grant in 1414 to reopen the hostilities with France, 3 but the poet is conscious of the importance of England’s territorial holdings. Though Henry’s first campaign in the renewal of the war was in 1415 (remembered famously for the Battle of Agincourt), he had been involved in military and political activities in his youth, and he grew in power after Henry IV’s health declined in 1410.

While it passes the period of our study, the fame of Henry V’s military campaigns is familiar to most readers due in great part to Shakespeare’s Henry V. As Barr observes, modern imagination sees Henry as a “national saviour because of his victories against the French,” but at the time he had to work on securing his position and was “careful to engineer support for himself and his policies” (Barr 31) through such means as diplomacy, conciliation, largesse, propaganda and, finally, force. God Save the King and Keep the Crown! 4 Rejoice in God, renew your faith, increase your mirth in joy and bliss and keep God’s law safe. During this holy time, 5 let sorrow cease. May God send peace among us, to which each man be bound to stop fools’ designs, 6 stand with the king, and maintain the crown. What does a king’s crown signify, when encircled with stones and flowers? Lords, the commons and clergy to all be of one assent. To keep that crown, pay good attention in wood, field, dale and down. The lowest subject, with his body and rent, is a part of the crown.

What do those encircled stones signify? Riches, strength and great bounty. Our towns and castles in realms abroad are our stones of great power and keep all this country in peace, holiness, and contemplation. May God let them never be scattered, and save the king and keep the crown. If we had nothing beyond the sea 7 and all our enemies were friendly to us, though they brought all their gold here I would set it at little store. Our enemies would fight for it in battle array and win that and much more: our lands, our lives, the realm, the crown. If we quarrel among ourselves, then ends the flower of chivalry. All other lands that hate us 8 would see our weakness and would rush in on every side; the strong cast down the feeble. If they have rulership through might, they would take the crown from the rightful heir. If the encircled flowers and rich stones were separated from each other, if the crown were broken once, it would be full hard to knit together again. Consider before you suffer that blow. Amend, you who must! You who are wisest, put forth your wit! Stand with the king to keep the crown.

God grant you grace to keep the crown and never let it be broken over rumors of little consequence; no harm is done though words are spoken. Let wisdom be unlocked, openly and privily for deliberations. Wish no man be avenged out of evil, but stand with right, maintain the crown. 9 A man might be removed far from a king’s place and cause a king to perjure himself by impeding the law. That man would make the king believe he was in a holy condition of grace, and be maintained in his sin while he picked the stones out of the crown. 10 A kingdom must be governed by right, and the false chastised. Falsehood and truth will fight until one has destroyed the other. Until truth has been separated from treason, there will never be peace in the region. In all kingdoms that man has governed, God gives the crown to the place of virtues. Though falsehood defames truth, truth does not seek corners in which to show his speech. Truth thinks no shame of his craft but is fearless to teach it to all folk. Vengeance ever stands by truth, for vengeance is God’s champion. Before vengeance smites, God be our healer and save the king and keep the crown.

Examine what you begin and consider how it will end, and what you may win spiritually and physically. Each man destroys his best friend—and so it went in Flanders. 11 They lost the fame of nobility; pray to God that he unbend his bow of wrath, and save the king and keep the crown. God gives his authority to all kings; on earth a king has might, like a god. Holy writ commands that he who always judges with right be blessed. Men act in darkness, 12 God sees in light. Sin, murder, secret treason may not be hidden from God’s sight. God gives the crown to judge with right. That lord loves himself little who gives up his bliss for sorrow and woe. For the love of ten or twelve, he makes all folk his foes and also loses the love of God for lack of perfection. Though he had no dominance but of those, he might wear a simple crown. 13 Each king has God’s power to save or destroy life and limb. He must make God his partner and not do his own will. For God receives each poor man’s petition and hears the sound of his complaint. Counsel the king to keep the crown.

The father will teach and chastise the wanton child, beating it sore with a rod. Then the father will burn the rod when the child is wise and has taken to learning. We have been God’s rod and chastised kingdom, castle and town, and have lost twigs of our rod. God save the king and keep the crown. 14 Englishmen had many victories, and word spread throughout the world. They made Christians and heathens quake, and took and slew strong kings. God, let us never war among ourselves and lose that renown, or let our right be turned into wrong. God save the king and keep the crown. If fighting is raised among ourselves, then we destroy our own nest. The victor will be evilly rewarded; so many good men lost. It is better to bend than to break. Each man is bound to reason. You who are wisest, take the best, and counsel the king, maintain the crown. A commons might soon be destroyed without a king or governor, and a king without rent might have a lightly packed treasury, for the commons maintains the lord’s honor, 15 holy church and religion. The commons is the fairest flower that God ever set on an earthly crown.

God, let this kingdom never be lost through discord among ourselves! Let other kingdoms not laugh at us scornfully and say, “God sends us vengeance for sin.” God give us time for repentance, good living, and devotion. And God, keep our comely king in your governance, and save the crown. Notes

Question: The Lollard uprising and the Battle of Agincourt took place in the reign of which English monarch?
Answer: HENRY V